House will rock with tunes to help tots

When Anthony Castaneda was a teenager, he worked 12-hour days as a
Salvation Army bell ringer for two Christmas seasons.

Now 33, Castaneda wants to give again to the community. The
Donna-based musician, with the help of a local resident, Paul Santos,
has rounded up fellow rockers for a Toys for Tots benefit.

Today's House of Rock lineup features The Hi-Tones, The Reely Rotnz,
The Booked, Super Stuff and Stout. Marines will collect toys and
donations at the door.

"I wanted to have a reunion type of thing as well as a benefit,"
said Castaneda, guitarist and singer for Stout, and bassist in The
Hi-Tones.

Castaneda, who has a 9-year-old daughter, Jubilee Avril, wants to
encourage those who don't attend the benefit to "put some money in the
bucket."

"It's my first time (at House of Rock) so I'm excited. I heard it
was a pretty happening place," said Castaneda, a former Corpus Christi
resident who drives to the city often for shows.

While he's here, he'll search for a bassist for Stout, a band he
describes as "punk rock with a country feel."

"It's basically a big amplifier, loud guitar," he said. "We use a
lot of old equipment. That's why I mention AC/DC. We get a lot of that
raw dry sound."

The Reely Rotnz is a punk band Castaneda has played with as far back
as 10 years ago. At the time, Castaneda was in the band Gedi Mind Trick
with Trey Garcia, lead singer of The Booked, a Calallen street punk
band on New York City's Radical Records label.

In the Reely Rotnz's decade long career, lead vocalist and guitarist
Jimmy Smithwick says there hasn't been a better time for the group.
After several member changes, the Reely Rotnz now has its original
lineup.

"This is actually our last live show as a local band," said
34-year-old Smithwick.

The band, which formed in Kingsville in 1996, will sign with a
Minneapolis management company and will start recording its new album
to be produced by Brynn Arens, founder of the band Flipp, in January.
Smithwick says he was a big fan of Flipp and has kept in contact with
Arens for three years via phone.

"We decided to stay in Corpus and capture the Corpus vibe in our
record," Smithwick said. "We wrote those songs and played those songs
in our hometown . . . and that's the sound he wanted to capture."